Bangkok

My second destination is Thailand. A drastic temperature change from London, it is the end of summer here and hot! After arriving in Bangkok, I managed to meet up with an exchange student from high school, Nymia Habitch. Quite a coincidence that we happen to be a Bangkok at the same time and both having a very narrow time window. That is one of the joys of Facebook. 

Bangkok has not been one of my favorite locations so far. However, I am not surprised, I had heard that from many people before. But I am glad I got the chance to see some of the beautiful temples and palaces, they are a sight to be seen if you can handle the madness of the city. Nymia and the friends he is traveling with are all attending school in Taiwan for the year, one Swiss and the other German. Since they have been exposed to the Asian culture for a while it was nice to have them around and give me pointers while I adjust to the culture shock. They found it quite funny that I was not prepared for the over population and filth commonly found in the eastern world. It really takes some getting used to. Air quality is something that we are more spoiled with that I had ever imagined. 

Although I didn’t enjoy fighting the even more populated crowds that normal we did have good timing as it is the Chinese New Year. They have a massive five day celebration in the Bangkok Chinatown. It was fun to see the Thai Chinese celebrate their most important holiday with concerts, shows and parades around every corner. 

This was also my first experience in a hostel. I’m sure it was one of the better first experiences one could have. It was quite clean and the travelers were all friendly and enjoyable. I was probably the worst person in there. I am suffering severally from jet lag/ time change and up most of the night, always hoping not to disturb anyone. I’m not sure why it didn’t effect me as much on my last trip to Africa, but it seemed as though I was so exhausted I slept soundly the first couple of nights and fell right into timezone. I’m hoping at some point the same happens here but for now I am only sleeping a couple hours a night from about 4am to 6am. On the positive side that leaves me with good timing to Skype the western world. I seem to be getting to chat with my parents almost everyday, I hope I can continue that consistency. I try to stay logged on when ever I am around the internet so anyone else that happens to be on feel free to say hello, its always nice to see your faces and hear your gossip ;) kristin.whinery is my skype address.